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A Day in the Life of a Missionary [Wife]

5:15am- I hear Rosalyn awake in her room. After checking my mail and waiting some 10 minutes, I decide she’s not going back to sleep. I put on my glasses and my sweater as it’s pretty cold, make a bottle and find her standing up, waiting for me.

6:55am- Rosalyn is finally tired out and back in bed. I crawl back in my bed too! 5:15 is not my preferred wake-up time.

On my way to the City Hall [Trip 1]

10am- I’m doing laundry and the windows and patio doors are wide open! It’s the warmest day since we’ve been here- climbing up to a high of about 65. It felt absolutely glorious, especially since I was expecting rain, but it’s bright and sunny outside, which means clothes will dry quickly.

11:30am- Rosalyn is strapped into the carrier, and I’m not wearing her giant clip-on coat underneath my winter coat (and thereby looking like a walking bus), but only the carrier and a light jacket. It’s wonderful! I head down a 1/4 mile or so to the real estate office of our apartment building. We were given a bike and when it get’s warmer, I’ll be getting one too. We need to have stickers for our bike parking spot, similar to apartment car tags or stickers. I go into the rather smoky office and explain fairly easily, receive the stickers and then am back on the road for other errands.

12:07pm- I’m at the information desk at the city hall (a place I’m spending way more time than I would have preferred). I spent a few minutes comparing the kanji post-it note Rosalyn’s doctor gave me with the ones on the signs I’m seeing. No luck. Today’s goal is to get what’s called a “boushi-te-chou” for Rosalyn, which is like a medical records book for minors. In Japan, you keep the medical records for children, so it’s always a surprise when foreigners come in to the doctor’s office and they don’t have one. It really throws them off. They’re actually quite handy little things, and start at pregnancy and end who knows where.

The lady at the desk gives me the direction of the entrance for the area I need to go to, however she informs me that they are on break from 12pm-1pm. And it’s 12:07. Schnikies. I’ve walked a good 15-20 minutes to get here and I’ll have to come back again, but- and here’s a good Japanese phrase for ya- “Shou-ga-nai”– oh well, it can’t be helped.

1:20pm- I’m finally making it back home after running into an old friend on the way home and going to the 100 yen store

City Hall

(dollar store equivalent). Vicente needed more cards to make flash cards for study. It’s in the same building as a grocery store where I’ve found the cheapest diapers– Pampers actually. I buy a box, and while holding bags, tie string around it and use the plastic handle provided to carry it home. Now to make lunch– Vicente will be home from school shortly, so I need to get a move on it– he always comes home hungry.

3pm- Time for my Japanese lesson. Joe-a missionary who has been here 6.5 years and speaks very good Japanese, studies alternately with Vicente and I. I kinda work at my own pace, and we review vocabulary and grammar I don’t know for the N3, which is a good level– it helps me to feel confident that I know something, but I can learn more too and be challenged.

4:20pm- My lesson is already over and Rosalyn is asleep, so I take the opportunity to head solo out to the city hall again, post haste to make it before they close at 5.

Raining on my way home from the City Hall

5:15pm- Whew. Well, I thought I was going for a simple book. But I have a bag of paperwork now, all kinds of awesome looking information… that I’m not entirely sure what it says. I was also sent to the 9th floor to take care of Rosalyn’s vaccination schedule paperwork, and what gets done where (apparently some are done at different places and on certain days). I think I understand everything, but I am going to take this bag to a friend’s house to check it over. My daughter’s health is not something I want to guess on.

[Note: I hesitated about writing about vaccinations because it’s such a hot topic. I’m sure you have strong opinions about it, and at the base of it, I’m sure that you are doing what you think is best for your child, whatever your decision. However, whether you agree with me or not, that’s not what this blog is about. Please do not leave comments or send me emails about vaccinations. I appreciate your respect in this matter. Thank you!]

6:00pm- Working on the Fuse newsletter that goes out weekly. It’s one of my new responsibilities. I don’t do much, just input info provided to me, and work a slight bit on design, but it still takes me a bit since I’m new. But, we recently did our newly-formatted newsletter with this program, so it’s been another blessing to us.

8pm- Time for a break! Vicente’s shaving his head, so Rosalyn and I chill out in my room and tune into the latest episode of

The pile of paperwork received today. At some point in the very near future, I will need to figure out what this all means!

Downton Abbey. YAY!

10:30pm- Rosalyn is asleep after being showered, and now I get to wash bottles, get coffee ready for the next day and otherwise straighten up.

11:40pm- finishing this blog up and then I think I’m off to bed! Tomorrow’s a busier day.

Yeah, it really was, just more complicated. It was more of a business type of day rather than a ministry type day, which is often what I find myself doing. But Vicente is writing one soon. Every once in a while I will do this kind of thing!